In shipping systems, conveyors and other material handling equipment (“MHE”) may be used to carry packages, parcels, pieces and other conveyed items from one location to another within a facility before final shipment to an intended recipient. Among shipping providers, it may also be known to provide readers—e.g., automated reweigh cube (“ARC”) system readers—for use in conjunction with such conveyors to ascertain information, and capture revenue which might otherwise be lost, in connection with the conveyed items.
As may be appreciated by persons having ordinary skill in the art, the revenue generating capabilities associated with such prior art conveyor and reader systems may have been limited by the conveyor speed, by any conveyor stoppages, by the conveyor's capacity and the utilization of the conveyed items thereon, and by the ability and efficiency of the reader to timely identify the conveyed items, among other things. More specifically, for example, operating the conveyor at a speed which is less than optimal, or carrying less than an optimal number of items thereon, may have resulted in a lower revenue for a shipping provider than might otherwise have been generated. Similarly, over-loading the conveyor or running it too fast may likewise have resulted in a lower revenue for the shipping provider, at least to the extent that doing so may have made the conveyor prone to stoppages or may have diminished the reader's ability to timely identify the conveyed items.
In fields of art which are perhaps not directly analogous—see, for example, U.S. Pat. No. 6,779,319 which was issued on Aug. 24, 2004 to Smith et al. for “Real-time Intelligent Packet Collation Systems and Methods”—systems may be known which are adapted to read identification information from mail items, to display processing efficiency information, and to provide reports for later diagnosis and/or amelioration of problems experienced by the systems.
In parcel delivery and/or other commercial enterprises which utilize conveyors, it may be desirable to modify a prior art conveyor and reader system to provide flow information to operations and/or management. Preferably, such flow information may find advantageous utility in modifying upstream and downstream loading and unloading processes to increase revenue and facilitate adequate conveyor clear times.
What may be missing from the prior art is a system, adapted for use in conjunction with a conveyor and a reader for identifying the conveyed items, which dynamically uses a count and precise duration of any conveyor stoppages to calculate an optimal speed for the conveyor, and which then automatically controls the actual speed of the conveyor. A contemplated system of this general type may be desirable or may afford advantageous utility for shipping systems and shipping providers, among other possible users. Though not essential to the working of the present invention, thus controlling the actual speed of the conveyor may help to control, manage, improve and/or optimize flow and loading and unloading processes, to facilitate adequate conveyor clear times, and/or to increase revenue.
It may be desirable for such a system to also dynamically use other flow and/or revenue-based information (e.g., a count of the boxes detected by the reader, pieces-per-hour information, dimensions of the pieces which correspond to the pieces-per-hour information) to calculate the optimal speed for the conveyor.
It may be desirable for such a system to directly interface with a conveyor controller or another MHE controller to facilitate automatic control of the conveyor's actual speed towards the optimal speed calculated for the conveyor.
It may also be desirable for such a system to enable communication to and from, and automatic control over, multiple readers, conveyors and/or MHEs.
It may also be desirable to reduce the number or duration of any conveyor stoppages, to otherwise increase the throughput of conveyed items identified by the reader, and/or to alert a user of the system when the system's performance falls outside of acceptable parameters—any or all of which may facilitate the generation of increased revenue.
It may be desirable to physically store, on a computer readable medium, instructions for execution by one or more processors to implement such a modified system.
One of the objectives of the present invention may be to provide a system, method and/or computer readable medium to help move items within a facility.
One of the objectives of an aspect of the present invention may be to provide a system, method and/or computer readable medium to help capture item attributes for additional charges and/or recovery.
One of the objectives of an aspect of the present invention may be to provide a system, method and/or computer readable medium to help merge scan and recovery data for transmission to and/or integration with tracking and billing functions within a larger operation, for example, at the facility or across many facilities.
One of the objectives of an aspect of the present invention may be to provide a system, method and/or computer readable medium adapted for use in parcel delivery or postal applications, in transporting conveyable items to trailers, in transporting of parcels, and/or in improving or facilitating movement of conveyable freight.
One of the objectives of an aspect of the present invention may be to provide a system, method and/or computer readable medium adapted for use in airports or with airlines, and/or to improve or facilitate re-weighing, cubing and/or movement of baggage or air cans.
One of the objectives of an aspect of the present invention may be to provide a system, method and/or computer readable medium for use in supply chain management and/or movement of products.
It is an object of the present invention to obviate or mitigate one or more of the aforementioned mentioned disadvantages and/or shortcomings associated with the prior art, to provide one of the aforementioned needs or advantages, and/or to achieve one or more of the aforementioned objects of the invention.